Good Morning,
The past week blessed us with some much needed precipitation. I have already been pumping water out of the well to keep the irrigation pond at a high level. This is definitely the earliest I have turned the well on as far back as I can remember. The Iowa DNR license allows us to pump 81 acre feet of water from the well and 121.5 acre feet of water from the irrigation pond from April 1 through October. It makes me nervous to be using this much water so early in the season.
We applied the Spring granular fertilizer application to the greens on Wednesday morning prior to the rain. Right after application, I irrigated the greens for 15 minutes at a station to break down the fertilizer prill. The course has now been fertilized and the grass is already benefiting from the nutrients and moisture. Unfortunately, so are the dandelions.
The tees and fairways have been sprayed with a broadleaf herbicide and crabgrass preemergent. This past week I was unable to spray due to high winds and rain in the forecast on a daily basis. Hopefully the upcoming week will provide us with some nice mornings to get the sprayer going again and knock down some dandelions. They are everywhere in 2021.
Mowing, mowing, and more mowing. That has been the highlight of the past week. The fertilizer, rainfall, and warm conditions have produced grass on steroids it seems. The equipment has been going at full strength trying to keep up. The grounds staff has done a great job keeping the course looking very nice so far this season.
We hosted a graduation reception last Saturday evening and will have another one Sunday (today) evening. The first one went very well. I already have several requests for reservations in 2022. I would like to wait a week or two to see what kind of feedback everyone gets from the golfing public before we proceed. We are here to provide a recreational environment first and foremost. I don’t want these events to interfere with that goal.
The clubhouse staff has been very busy this season and doing a great job. When the weather has been nice, the golf course has a lot of players stopping out. Our season pass totals are currently at 22 families, 56 couples, 164 singles, 23 young adults, 24 junior, and 38 punch cards. It has been five years since our season pass numbers were this high. Green fees and cart rentals have also been up quite a bit in comparison to the past few years.
This past week I used some vacation time. I was away from the golf course for part of the day during most of the week. I was still available by cell phone and continued to be in and out of the office in the afternoons. The golf course staff has continued to do a great job inside the clubhouse and on the grounds. I have full confidence in the staff and it makes it easier to be gone when necessary. Thank you to all the employees!
The coming week will be open golf along with leagues playing during the weekdays. Almost all golf leagues have started for the season. The weather has not cooperated with all the league times but hopefully this week we will have perfect golf weather!
This is a wrap on another week at The Muni. Please contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns so they can be addressed in a timely manner. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!
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Brian C Mohr
Director of Golf Operations
City of Spencer
101 W 5th Street
Spencer Municipal Golf Course
Spencer, Iowa 51301
712-260-5370
Spencer Municipal Golf Course 